The ad announced a search for the next food and drink critic for the weekly, Time Out NY.. It stated: Here’s the deal: We’re on the hunt to crown the city’s next great food writer. You don’t have to have any professional experience as a critic—just a passion for New York City’s culinary scene and the world of eating. My professional food writer friends blanched. No professional experience necessary. On one hand, I support giving a newcomer a chance at a career. On the other, it is absurd to hire someone with no professional food writing or reviewing experience, who may have not even have restaurant
Read more →“Do Your Best, and Then Let Go” So reads one of the 13 chapters- and morsels- of kitchen wisdom in Alana Chernila‘s new cookbook, “The Homemade Kitchen.” This is a book whose message is as much about how to approach life at a slow, measured and pleasurable pace as it is about about cooking with the same intentions. “Start Where You Are.” “Feed Yourself.” “Put Your Hands in the Earth.” “Do the Work.” “Slow Down.” Alana has these phrases and others taped to her refrigerator. I do the same thing on mine with inspirational quotations such as: “Just as the
Read more →Recently I was at a birthday dinner where a mother shared her experience with lice. Both her sons had contracted lice at their school. I’ve heard this story from other parents whose children contract lice-or fleas-and infected the rest of the family. It made me curious: How can you keep your kids safe from germs at school? Also, how can you keep your self free from germs that your kids bring home from school? No one can live in a bubble. I’ve invited Columbia University Medical Center Pediatric Specialist Dr. Clare Bush to join me September 28th to discuss how to keep
Read more →September is National Prostate Awareness Month. Frankly, I would never have known if I did not write and report on health topics. Prostate cancer does not get the “noise” that breast cancer, or even ovarian cancer, receives. Yet, it is the most common cancer in men after skin cancer. According to statistics from the American Cancer Society, one in 7 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer as compared to one in 8 women diagnosed with breast cancer. There are about 220,800 new cases of prostate cancer and 26,540 deaths from the disease. While prostate cancer is a serious disease,
Read more →Deanna Won is a former U.S. Air Force Colonel and physicist who specialized in electro-optics and lasers for over 26 years. She worked in space launch, missile defense, biological defense and NATO operations. But no military training prepared her for a battle with ovarian cancer. “When I was 45 years old, I experienced excruciating pain in my abdomen and had trouble breathing, which landed me in the hospital, where even the morphine could not reduce any of my pain,” says Deanna. “When I found out that I had ovarian cancer, I made the immediate decision to completely change my nutrition and diet to an
Read more →A recent walk in the woods yielded a brilliant treasure. Attached to the trunk of a dead tree was a giant mushroom. It was splashed with colors of yellow and orange and fanned out in layers resembling firm giant petals. We delicately removed it from the tree trunk and carefully carried it home. Research on the internet and a consult with a mushroom foraging expert confirmed it was a Chicken of the Woods, considered a delicacy in the food world. After photographing our find for posterity and Instagram we sliced it into thin strips and sautéed them in olive oil
Read more →A chef whom I knew and respected died this past week at the age of 50 after a long battle with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), a devastating and progressive neurodegenerative disease. His name was Gerry Hayden, and his restaurant was the critically acclaimed North Fork Table & Inn on Long Island. I had just discussed booking a dinner at his restaurant with my friend Kathy, and then she sent me his obituary. Gerry Hayden stood heads above many star chefs in the kitchen even though he was confined to a wheelchair. Though his arms and hands were useless for cooking, his mind
Read more →Most people are aware that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but how many of you are also aware that September Is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month? At the end of this article I have provided a graph to give you a brief understanding of the impact both breast and ovarian cancer have on women in the United States of all ages and backgrounds, What’s important to also understand is that if you or a loved one is diagnosed with either disease, you don’t have to feel alone. There is an amazing support network available through organizations like SHARE, a non-profit whose mission
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